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Jason Probst speculates if noted referee "Big" John McCarthy will work January 10th's WEC 46 event in Sacramento given McCarthy is licensed to officiate in the state. In other words, WEC 46 is a point of no return test for Zuffa to see if there really is a not-so invisible hand of a blackball on McCarthy.

I'll follow the story for the readers, but I wanted to post this excerpt from Probst's piece because it nicely articulates the strength of McCarthy's position - competency, best practices and efficiency in a world of chaos, ignorance and confusion:

In the fast-growing sport, the increasing demand for officials has placed a burden on state commissions trying to keep pace with the exploding workload from more events. That can translate into inconsistent officiating, ranging from how rounds are scored to when restarts are enacted and when fights are stopped. McCarthy has worked extensively to help standardize these concepts across jurisdictions, regularly teaching seminars so officials can be more consistent, regardless of what level show they are officiating. McCarthy also launched his own training program, COMMAND (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts Development), for referees and judges in December 2007 and holds courses every couple of months.

"If you’ve ever sat down with John and had him explain to you how he referees and protects the athletes and gets his job done, it’s amazing," said Strikeforce CEO Coker. "The education and knowledge he has is unbelievable. I sat down with him almost three months ago and it was like taking a seminar. There’s nobody better qualified than John."

Both Zuffa and McCarthy have gone on the record recognizing there's historically been some disputes between parties, but both have also said they have no substantive problem with the other. If that's the case, why can't a working arrangement be made?

I don't think Zuffa's implied argument with McCarthy is out of bounds. It's ok to ask questions about a judge's or referee's bias after working the broadcast circuit and offering candid commentary.

Ultimately, though, the dispute falls apart when the rubber meets the road. When you actually try to cobble together a case against McCarthy's that rests on a) figuring out some semblance of a coherent worldview and b) that said worldview would cause him to betray his record of general excellence in favor of disrupting Zuffa's operations, you realize this is highly, highly improbable. It takes a big leap in logic to assume McCarthy will tailor stoppages or not enforce the Unified Rules to adjust outcomes against Zuffa's inferred interests.

If one of the competitors is from McCarthy's gym, then he should not referee the bout. Short of that, he belongs in the cage and particularly in meaningful bouts. Let's see what happens January 10th.